Daughter Ruto
by Lynny M
Summary: Ruto comes of age. A one-shot tale of menses, a sort of...examination of Ruto's younger character.


**Daughter Ruto**

**Category:** The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

**Author's Notes:** There seems to be a dreadful lack of decent Ruto-themed fanfiction out there. I'm not really sure why this is; people dislike her character, but I can't imagine what for. She's as dynamic as Zelda characters get, and she's such a pistol! This story has been in my computer for at least three years, and it's taken me that long to get it done. Why? Well, it's a bit of a sensitive issue. Allow me to explain.

This is a menstrual story, a story of the physical side of coming-of-age. Traditionally, Zoras are depicted as egg-layers, but I think this is horseshit. It came to me years ago that Ruto's major malfunction was…you guessed it…PMS. Sure, you might laugh, but I'm serious. She's the right age, and the way she acts? She's unpredictable, moody, and strangely interested in our young hero, Link. Her body is the right shape for someone who's going through those kinds of changes. And so I came to the conclusion that Ruto was struggling with overcoming that first unhappy period that all of us girls must deal with at a certain age. Does it have to be unhappy? Not necessarily; it's just a turbulent time.

Please tell me what you think of it in a review; it would be much appreciated.

-

Ruto wandered impulsively on the edge of an islet in the Zora Fountain, shifting the occasional pebble with her webbed feet and exploring between boulders of granite. She was a pretty young Zora girl, lean, muscular and growing taller, with a distinctly hammerhead trait that set her apart from other Zoras. She was admittedly tomboyish and very outspoken, but regardless was dear to the Royal Family and the Zora people alike––she was, of course, the Kings daughter.

Today, her mind was upset in a strange sort of way, one she had never experienced before. She had visited the Fountain to try to relax. It was a private place, full of secrets, of nooks and crannies, of peaceful silence. On a good day, there was no one to share the space with, and she was free to rest in the cool shade of whatever niche she could find.

The rescue from Lord Jabu Jabu had occurred only days before. Now that whale of a Lord rested peacefully in his usual spot, free from whatever malevolent parasite he had harbored within his bowels. And the boy, that stupid boy, was gone.

Stupid, ignorant boy!

He had the nerve to go to her father!

She stepped under the shade of a lonely tree. The sand underneath was still cool. Tiny schools of fish glinted around the drop-off and when she watched them, she became slightly dizzy. Her head was _so _bad todayC and really she had no reason to be upset, but there was an awful feeling within her head and in the pit of her stomach. If only it was possible to give up the will to exist! She could collapse head first into dark oblivion!

She had considered praying to the local Great Fairy. Supposedly a "fountain" of female wisdom poured from that "fountain"-literal. But no. The Great Fairy was certainly as wise as she was beautiful, Ruto had no doubt of that, but no. Cryptic olden wisdom was not to her taste today.

She sat herself down on the edge of the islet, sticking her feet into the water, dabbling in it. The morning sun was climbing its way up into the sky. Being spring it was graciously warm, and it was really the best time of the year. But she was miserable beyond tears, it seemed, and––Great Goddess, that _stupid_ boy! Damn him, Ruto thought. His interference. His presumption! She could not even begin to list the ways that boy had driven her mad with anger.

And then something broke. She began to cry. At first she was just teary-eyed, but then it evolved into something full-fledged, with convulsions of the chest and terrible sobbing, burying her face in her hands and falling back into the sand. She cried and cried until it weaned off into sleep, and then she napped.

When she awoke, she found herself to be overly warm and sticky from being in the sun too long. Sand stuck unpleasantly to her buttocks and her arms and legs. She sat up, slow and bleary, and forced herself to stand. Then she waded out into the knee-high water.

Tiny little fish scooted past her feet, and she watched them wash away, feeling _very _calm. It was an unnatural sort of calmness, especially so after her torrential cry. Caught in a moment of inner reflection, she began scraping a spot of dirt from her shoulder, and wondered why she should let that stupid boy upset her so. It was the boy, wasn't it? Him in his green tunic, with his forest sprite constantly whispering in his ear––him and his persistence, his need to help her through the ill Lord Jabu. His irksome, calculating nature. His…oh, he was annoyance in whole. But he did not matter. He was gone.

Something caught her eye then. She frowned very slightly at it and leaned over, slow and deliberate, wiping her hands on her knees. There was a rusty stain on the inside of one of her blue thighs. Perhaps she had cut herself on a mussel-shell. Annoyed, she wiped the sticky matter away.

Something was wrong, though––there was no cut to nurse. Ruto slipped back onto the islet, looking down at herself the entire way. Then she found a mossy boulder to rest behind, and sat with her back to it. Knees open, she continued her investigation. If there was no cut, not here nor there, then where did the blood come from?

Ah, _here_...she noticed another stain, this one more crimson than the first. It seemed to spread from a thick place within her privates.

Her heart fluttered and then doubled its pace. She glanced about briefly and let her feet dig into the sand andC-being alone in the Fountain––slipped a small hand past the swell of her belly. She felt gingerly along her privates, which were smooth and hairless like all Zora bodies. Her fingers touched something sticky and wet, and she grimaced.

Ruto lifted her hand and examined it. There was blood on all four fingertips.

A little seed of fear blossomed in her middle.

-

They called it _menstruation_.

And she blamed it, naturally, on the boy. It had all started with the boy.

…Well it _had_, hadn't it? The accident with the patron deity, that wasn't it. No. That oversized fish may have swallowed her whole, but he had done that ten times before. She could've handled it. But her mother's stone had slipped right out of her hands and down that monster's slippery gullet. She was _flustered._ She couldn't _help it_. That was the reason for the note. And that stupid boy had the nerve to take that note seriously!

The boy––was maybe the _catalyst_, the _trigger_ that set her aflow. _And how!_ She thought, looking at the dark red smears between her thighs. Her stomach cramped and strange new organs in her abdomen gurgled. She stood in a private bathing room, ankle deep in water that ran fresh from the fountain. Her nursemaid and her steward were out and about, no doubt telling everyone in the royal house that the King's daughter had achieved maturation. _Everyone in the Domain must know by now_, she thought sourly. She hated attention.

"Knock knock, little Princess!" Her nursemaid's voice came from beyond the door. In they came, Lamune and Anso both, with smiles as big as Zora's river itself. They were the ones who had explained this strange womanly phenomenon to her. They called it menstruation, the _menses._ It was a natural thing, not to be afraid of. It was a thing of cycle, of balance, and of physical readiness. It meant that she could have children.

It also meant, incidentally, that she could be crowned Princess. She had had countless spiritual lessons on it. Something to do with an ancient thing, a pact, or something of that nature, between the Goddesses and the early Zora people. Female royalty was considered especially righteous, and now that she was old enough, Ruto would be crowned the first Princess since her great-grandmother's rule.

But she hated the attention! Everyone she walked past would be glancing between her legs.

Anso handed her a cup of tea. "For you, little one! I made it sweet, the way you like it."

Ruto said thank you.

Lamune set a hand on her shoulder. "To think our little one is of age!" She said. "Your father is very happy, Ruto. He might not show it, but he's so proud of you. And the people, oh, _they_ will be thrilled to have a Princess, you know––after that scare with Lord Jabu Jabu."

Ruto looked at her feet, annoyed. There it was again, the _scare,_ they called it. She hated every reference to it.

Anso took her hand and began painting artful swirls and runes upon it. She was to be decorated for her crowning. It was a very public thing. There was to be three days of festivities, just for her. Three banquets. Three afternoons spent wandering the halls of the inner domain, to socialize with the people.

In all honesty, Ruto disliked the idea. She was bred into it, though, and there was no escape. It was a royal thing.

"You know," Anso said genially, moving the horsehair brush in skillful circles. "I knew your time was near. I could see it within your body." He pointed to the apple-sized swellings of her breasts. "You're developing, you see. Your fins are swelling, too. Within a year or two, they'll open up."

"You'll lose that belly, too." Lamune said.

Ruto pondered this in silence.

-

Her father had little to say to her. That was alright, of course. He was a man of few words, and he had grown so fat in the past year that, physically, it was difficult for him to talk without great stores of energy. Ruto stood before him in the Royal chamber, embarrassed but attempting to be proud for his sake.

"Ruto," he began hugely, "You are my darling daughter, and I am as proud of you as all of Zora's domain. No longer will you be known as a simple daughter, but as a crowned princess of the Zora people.

"And some day in the future, you will become Queen. That will mark the end of my time, yes, but it will mark the bright beginning of your time." He paused for a moment and breathed, then concluded. "Nayru blessed us with a daughter for a reason, I know that much."

Ruto bowed respectfully. She appreciated her father, knew that the stresses on him were phenomenal and that she was a sole source of enjoyment for him. She had once had a tendency to tomboy around with him, to flaunt her princess-hood and pshaw the rules of the Royal house. Since this physical change, this _menses_, however…she felt suddenly adult. There was a new need to take up the more formal behaviors. So she would bow and pay attention to what her father had to say.

Anso then approached, bowing to show his allegiance to the King. He took her gently by the hand and left with her, leading her through several back halls, silent and hand-in-hand, until they found a small niche of a meditation room.

"Before your crowning, it would be best to say thanks. Don't you agree?" He said. Ruto knew what this was. She knew from her spiritual lessons that it was her duty as a young princess to –– to _reconcile _herself with the Goddesses, the three of which had placed her in such a special position. It was a private matter; something that Ruto found was just her speed. She liked prayer. It brought a sense of relaxation and inner balance, something divine yet entirely tangible. She knelt before the shelf-shrine, and Anso patted her shoulder and said he would be back.

She meant to turn her thoughts to the heavens, to the _blue law_––but for some time, they stayed down to earth and with the boy in the green tunic. She could not rid her mind of him. On one hand, his presumption and obnoxious intrusions drove her mad with anger…but on the other, she admitted him to be _somewhat_ admirable. For a Hylian he was not unattractive. Did she like him? No! Nayru forbid that!

Ah, but he had her mother's stone. There was no denying that.

Yes, the stone. Mother, who had passed away quietly so long ago…mother who had given her the title daughter, to be followed by crowned princess. Her stone; the stone of her people. Three sapphires hammered into a gold flow, and so much more than that. It was Ruto's best intentions wrapped up into a blessed gem. It was her most precious possession. It was her blessing as a Princess, as a Queen, and…as a wife.

That boy had her mother's stone. He had asked for it. Ruto recalled only a turbulent flow of emotions within her. They had splashed and flooded like Zora's Falls. Splashed and flooded and _stained_ like this nasty blood. He had her mother's stone! And she couldn't lie to herself any longer. She _gave_ him that stone because _she_ had wanted it too!

Defeated, Ruto began to cry again. Just a little bit, though, just a few sniffles and a few lost tears. Then she looked up at the shrine and forced herself to pray, to truly pray.

_Tell me how I'll be when I'm Princess_, she thought.

In her visions she saw barren deserts and suffocating evils.

-

They prepared for her a banquet of exotic and rich proportions. Clams and mussels had been baked by the dozens, cracked open by a quick hand, and dressed in all sorts of butters and herbs. Fish of all shapes and sizes had been crisped to perfection and glazed with utmost care. Bread and puddings had been delivered from Kakariko Village up the stream. Honeycomb, newly harvested from local hives, lay in stacks around the table. And the milk! They had gone so far as to bring in milk from the Lon Lon Ranch. It was thick with fat and served in hand-blown glass bottles.

The food looked very good, but Ruto lacked the appetite for it. Her bleeding had become much heavier and her belly still ached. She picked sparingly at the meals presented before her and spent the majority of supper watching the others in the Royal house dine. Her nursemaid placed a candied Deku nut on her platter and insisted that she eat it, so she did. It was as delicious as they had said it would be, but after she finished she slipped away to walk the halls of the Domain by herself.

The commoners, who she came across often, were exceptionally kind. They would bow deeply and smile at her, ask her how she was. Once, an entire family knelt before her and she had given them her blessing. An older woman gave her a basket of perfumes and dyes, and several passing women gave her gifts of jewelry and household knick-knacks. It got to be so much that she could hardly carry it all, and she had to make several trips back to the Royal chamber to set things in her bathing room. This made her very tired, however, and she decided to turn in. Lamune escorted her to bed and wished her a good night's sleep, but because of her cramps she slept fitfully. No matter; come the next morning, the festival was still on, and she was once again expected to partake in every facet of it.

Having found her appetite returned, she joined the banquet table and enjoyed a breakfast of strawberries and cold cream. The cook who prepared it brought it to the table himself, and kissed her forehead. She said thank you and ate it with her fingers, taking her time and watching as various members of the Royal house passed through.

Again she returned to the inner domain to converse with her people. Small children came forth to touch her hand and ask her how it was to be a princess. A troupe of folk dancers put on a show just for her, and she gave them her blessing. Sometime in the afternoon, a Goron courier arrived from Zora's River, escorted by a Zoran clock soldier. Ruto, being the chief diplomat of the day, appeared before him in the name of all of Zora's Domain. The courier bowed mildly and announced, "I have come in the name of Darunia, leader of the Goron people. He writes:" He removed a letter and read from it. "I, Darunia of the Gorons, congratulate Princess Ruto as the new hope of her people. With this gift I make her my sister, and I her brother, in blood and trust. May she prosper in her royalty."

The courier presented her with a golden cuff. It was fitted to her wrist and had a fiery opal about the size of her thumb set within it. The colors danced in an array of reds, oranges, and greens. Ruto fell in love with it, and put it on.

It was then that a guardsman, sent down from the Royal chamber, called out her name and beckoned her to follow him. "Miss Ruto," he said. "The time draws near for your crowning. The King had sent for you."

Ruto nodded and bid the courier good-bye. She turned and walked by the side of the soldier, surveying the open pools of the Domain and knowing that it would be hers someday.

It appeared to be an auspicious start to things, but only time would tell.

-

There may be a sequel to this. Thanks for reading, and good-bye!


End file.
